The top 56 fishermen in the world will hit Lake Guntersville in late February; but what has changed since the lake became off limits at the end of December? Guntersville and North Alabama is going through one of the coldest winters in history, the lake has froze over in some of the bays and water temperatures have reached low to mid 30’s and that will change the lake.

What the Classic competitors observed when they were here in December during the open fishing period was fairly typical of Lake Guntersville for that time of year; there was still plenty of grass, the fish were stacked up on the edges of the grass and all was normal. February of 2014 will be quite different; the grass will be gone in the shallows and the bass will be stacked up along the deeper vegetation and hard bottom areas of the lake. The fisherman will have to make some big adjustments to what might even be still a cold winter bite nothing like any February we have seen on Guntersville since the mid 90’s.

The practice days for the Classic competitors will be very important, because what they learned in December may not be anything like what they will experience when they arrive for their few practice days. The observations made in December will have to transition from a grass lake to a lake that hard bottom areas, road beds, stumps fields and proximity to spawning areas may be more important than lessons learned in December of 2013. It may very well come down to the true test of their understanding of their electronics where contours, breaks, bends and reading their structure scan produces the winner; the true professor of the Lowrance Electronics where winning is in the detail that they find on their Lowrance Electronics may be the difference maker. Truly the competitors with the ability to see the lake transition from what it was then to what it might be in a cold winter late February will survive the test and compete for the crown and produce the winner!

More on Lake Guntersville at fishassist.com/fishing-locations/lake-guntersville.php